Writing

Russia is the army we trained to fight
with its tanks, ships and military might.

All through the 80’s I was RED scared
as I played soldier in the Mississippi woods.
Defending against soldiers who
parachuted into my mind’s backyard.

The movie Red Dawn made quite an impact.
Their fight for their freedom in a small town.
The role of Jed played by Patrick Swayze.

To think a country might want the take our land.
In the South defending property was legend.
As the fast food restaurants
and Wal-Mart freely marched in.

We were a pack of Wolverines.
Defending our backyards from the Red Army.
The USSR was an enemy worth our hate.
As I played into the evening
sniping cloud shaped like tanks.

Russia is an immense land, its ethnicity hard to trace.
A melting pot much older than the United States.
As a kid I imagined Ivan Drago perfect and cloned.
Platoons of Dolph Lundgrens freely roamed.
I dreamt of my father’s war in Korea.
Not knowing the story of his Frozen Chosin.
How many thousands of dead
he lived to forget.

Hollywood made me
believe in the glory of war.
Of fighting for freedom against
any country that threatened ours.

There was a nobility in growing up
and enlisting, for a new fight was always near.

Fast forward, two decades to 9/11,
who knew my war would be as
invaders in a far off desert land.
My generation fighting IEDs
to not lose their minds and bodies.

A new year beckons Russia
to our attention.
Another war in a far off land.
I want to see no war.
No new blood spilt.

I admit, I did dream of Russia
and the U.S. going toe to toe.
To have the big Army war we
dreamt and prepared for.
To have a real war with a real
enemy worth fighting.
No land mines.
No occupation.
Holding the line like Vikings.

Tanks rolling across a flat open plain.
The A-10 tank killer’s mission
to open armor like flesh.
Our bombers dropping
their payloads on platoons.

I tell you this because there is still hate
buried deep inside. For the cold war
made me despise, anything
the color red for most of my life.

With this confession, I now know
we must keep another generation from
learning this hate.
War is never noble and it is not too late.

To reprogram the propaganda the Cold War did make.
To seek peaceful means, whatever it takes.